


you've been thinking, overthinking, just a little too much

by hikaristudio



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: 4+1 Things, Epistolary, Feelings Realization, Other, post series coda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-05-15 17:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19300618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hikaristudio/pseuds/hikaristudio
Summary: The first postcard arrives in his hand when his afternoon run coincided with the mail carrier, the woman placing it in his hand alongside with some bills, a catalog of cookware and a package marked for Lily.--4 letters fran and dom wrote rj + 1 rj wrote back





	you've been thinking, overthinking, just a little too much

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivulet027](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/gifts).



> have I ever been to europe? no, but I did try to consult a map and follow a semi reasonable path and like, just assume they travel by train if it seems too fast!! title comes from the aces 'waiting for you'.

(5)

 

The first postcard arrives in his hand when his afternoon run coincided with the mail carrier, the woman placing it in his hand alongside with some bills, a catalog of cookware and a package marked for Lily. This postcard comes from Spain, a bunch of buildings and houses right beside a cathedral. Toledo is scribbled on the bottom and he turns, walking into the pizzeria during the quiet period before the dinner rush comes in. Lily walks up with her hands outstretched for the package and leans over to see the cards in hand.

 

"Oh! Fran and Dom! Turn it over," she nudges his arm with hers, moving her package to her other side. They turn it over and he immediately scans over to the side that has Fran's loopy handwriting of 'To RJ, specifically, the others will get their postcard in the mail soon,' and turns away from Lily.

 

"No can do, Lily-bug, this one's all mine," he whisks away from her, a pout forming as she opens her mouth. "You'll get a postcard next time!" He walks up to the loft above, looking at the note and smiling at Fran's writing: _Hi RJ! By the time you get these postcards we'll probably be on the next city of the next postcard you get. I've never walked so much in my life, and I don't want to stop! hope Jungle Karma is doing well now that you guys saved the world, I know running it and fighting rinshi warriors was a little bit hard to do at the same time, but you guys did it! We ended up in Portugal spending hours trying to find a hostel that was open. We then took a train to Spain and have just been walking around. If I let Dom plan this, all we'd do is run around the city and find places to eat, but we still do that. We also do other things too. I made us go to the fortress and the view was incredible! You know what Dom says about traveling around and finding your purpose, but I really think he's got a destination in mind now than he did before. Dom also says that if you weren't so serious about staying at Jungle Karma you should've also come along backpacking with us. Don't forget to feed the Peppermint when the dinner rush begins.  - Your friend, Fran (and Dom)_

 

He grins at the mention of the stray cat that's taken up residence outside Jungle Karma. After it tried a few times to get in, they decided they'd rather not risk the wrath of the food inspectors and set a bowl for her outside that she came at night like clockwork. He was touched that Fran sent him a postcard about their adventures, and had even reminded him about Peppermint. Despite the fact that time slipped easily when he was engrossed in making a new pizza or trying a new hobby ever since the hardest part of training the rangers came to pass, it meant something that Fran considered him her friend and she never once faltered in her belief of him. He walks towards his bed and right above is a corkboard, with the latest bills that need to be paid at the forefront along with other hastily scribbled appointments and found the corner that had yet to be overtaken by paper and pinned her postcard.

 

* * *

 

 

(4)

 

The pizzeria gets busier after they save the world. They have to hire a new guy, simply to get to the nearby town that someone had leaked they had interesting pizza flavors. He didn't mind the business, anything that kept the doors open and the lights on was great, but the work was something he hadn't realized would double as well. He shakes his head, tossing dough into the air, regretting ever so slightly that he let Dom steal Fran away when she was the best delivery woman he had. Nevermind the fact that she was the only one that did the job well really, navigating Ocean Harbor came to her easily he could probably blindfold her and let her go to town.

 

There's something odd about not feeling like he's missing something, or has something to do. Despite his various attempts to remain stress-free and unrushed, he had known there would be a time when the rangers he had to prepare would arrive at his pizzeria. It wasn't an exact appointment but it was there in the back of his mind and he wasn't quite as confident he could prepare them, but he had to because the fate of the world was in balance. He hadn't realized that he also spent half of his time worried about an unspecified meeting with his father after he left

Pai Zhua and never even so much as sent a letter, or even a phone call. It was always his brain reminding him he wasn't good enough, and well, his dad wasn't the most communicative guy and he had a million things going on at once - between the boys, and the girls, and the training, and then the pizza parlor, and then the solitude that was running a business, and the waiting for the rangers, he never had the time to make any form of reconciliation. But what he did carry was the last words they'd said to each other right before he switched towards Master Swoop, and bottled up the failure that was not living up to the legacy of the Shark spirit he should've inherited.

  


Things are much better now. Casey, Lily and Theo graduated, and he helped them save the world, but that kind of thought never left his mind and he just worries that if he's shackled more people to him by way of the pizzeria.  Minds were a pesky thing, even in spite of all the meditation and kung-fu he tried. Those thoughts stayed with him, like little dust bunnies that piled up behind the junk that he took apart to make the rangers new equipment or touch up. Not even the rare times he would break out the weed could stop them and in turn they faded into background noise. Annoying, and could still be heard if he paid attention to them (and he really did try to _not_ listen to them - he helped saved the world, for crying out loud.)

 

"This is for you," Theo says, placing the postcard besides the table as he samples the latest sauce he's made, a mango habanero sauce with slight pomegranate flavoring. It was the wildflower pizza he was set to debut, to give himself something to do that would also theoretically not send anyone running, not after the ill-fated spicy teriyaki sriracha pizza.

 

_RJ! We've made it to Toulouse, pronounced exactly as you think it would (Tu-luz), and France is somehow even more prettier than Spain. It's a little bit like stepping into a garden (they call it 'la ville rose' because it looks like everything has been colored pink!) Not planning things is immensely stressful, and I really do wonder how Dom was able to do this go with the flow thing. I imagine it's how you managed to be so stress-free when I came to Jungle Karma and all you had was the name for it, and ideas of pizzas that you could do outside the normal kinds. Spontaneity does have it's appeal that I've let Dom take over what we do in Toulouse seeing as to how he has a friend here. Despite that, my high school French is better than Dom's. Go figure. We're going to see rugby, which I've never played but Dom has and tells me it's going to be exciting. We're going to Italy next because we really have missed pizzas and Europe doesn't have a Jungle Karma :(  Don't forget that your pizzas are delicious but please remember, not all the weird ideas will be eaten. Make them anyway, I want to try the new pizzas when I get back. - Your friend, Fran (and Dom)_

 

* * *

 

 

(3)

 

He hadn't really dated anyone, ever. There was never enough time and being a protector for a mystical legacy that didn't have a set arrival date meant it was all hands on deck at all times and everyone needed to be ready. There wasn't much to do outside of being able to do as many hobbies as possible. And the books. The academy only figured out how to get the shipping to them without exposing their secrets until way after he'd left. Fran walked in when the pizzeria was picking up, a calming presence in the booth that he hadn't even realized someone sat there. Fran was blessedly normal, after everything he had at the academy, she was someone completely separate. She knew nothing about his dad, or how he had a legacy to uphold, he just knew her as a nice girl he didn't want to get her hopes up for. He couldn't give himself to anyone when there was still work to be done.

 

His class wasn't as close as Casey and the others were. He's certain that it's not an anomaly but the restrictions at Pai Zhua loosening. Or maybe he was just getting old. He grimaces at the thought, stopping the thought his brain threatens to take him of turning into those old men that would begin every story with a " _back in my day._ " The restaurant hadn't opened yet, the benefits of opening closer to the brunch/afternoon times which were really dependent on his mood. Lily stole his only two employees for a day out, and as such he had no reason for the delivery boy until closer to the afternoon. He settled on his chair with the pile of dismantled electronic and brought up the refurbished laptop he was behind on he bought on sale to fix the tv.  It was him and his thought as the postcard looked up at him, Fran's loopy scrawl looking up at him as he sat with his thoughts.

 

He knew that she knew, and they never acted on it. Possibly because of her shyness, or his hesitation at ruining something they had, but it was there and over time it eased into a more mutual fondness that didn’t quite disappear until Dom had arrived and Fran was charmed. He was still her person, just like he was, he didn’t realize that he had been someone there with him, and he didn’t know how he should feel with her attention on him. It wasn’t jealousy, but maybe it was a longing that the instantaneous click between the two made Fran comfortable with him faster than the comfort they felt with each other that took years. There was quiet intimacy that came with the proximity of Fran in the pizzeria, a cornerstone of the business that had the place feeling out of sync as she backpacked around Europe. And it wasn't that he didn't appreciate what the rangers did, taking to the pizzeria that they became part-time owners in consulting new changes, but that they weren't there at the beginning like she was.

 

_RJ, our latest adventures was sightseeing our way through France. The Louvre is beautiful in the spring! And there's so much to do here, I feel that if I had a firmer grasp on French, I might not ever see any of you guys and stay here. Luckily for you, my french is remedial level at best and I couldn't inflict it on the shopkeepers. Plus side is Dom lets me do the talking mostly. I know you've got Karma, but you should find a way to come to us. We're in Italy now and by the time this reaches you, we've probably past Milan and are we're trying as many different pizzas. The head chef talked to us a little when we told him it was delicious and he went into a whole thing about the pizza telling a story about the people and the town because of the ingredient. I think that's why Jungle Karma does so well, you're telling the people a little bit of yourself and they come back for more. I really think that you'd get something if you ever stick your head outside of the piles of equipment you're always fixing or Jungle Karma. I don't think you've taken the time to congratulate yourself on the fact that you helped make rangers and prepared them enough. In any case, we have this bottle of wine we'd think you like and could potentially expand towards the dinner crowd, that's gonna be in the mail soon as the winery let's us know. Or you could come over and we could share it with you. - Yours, Fran & Dom _

 

Fran was the person he didn't realize he needed after the academy, who didn't expect him to save the world, or be like his father but wanted to see his business thrive. And then she knew about the rangers, and she helped guide him in her own way towards teaching them. He should probably work on the contract for Jungle Karma to get her on the paperwork, she had just as much to do with this as he did. He places the postcard underneath the makeshift desk he has to prevent it from being ruined.

 

* * *

 

 

(2)

 

At times, in the early years of the pizzeria when they were living from bill to bill, he was jealous of Dom and how he had nothing to uphold. Selfishly, it was stupid because the only reason Dom could go traveling is because he hadn't found his purpose whereas he had. Still, he envied at his ease of picking everything and leaving. The occasional email that was connected to Pai Zhua made its way towards him, but he'd left and taken nothing with him. He could do whatever he wanted. He didn't begrudge Pai Zhua or his father anything. There was no angst regarding the job he had to. However it couldn't be denied that he was always waiting for something that came to others so easily, and all the meditations in the world couldn't shake the feeling.

 

Dom was freer in a way he had to work when he attained zenness. He was lighter; he still had the same burden he had to carry, but he took it in stride because it was Dom and rarely did anything make him stumble. He envied his as a boy in his coolness, and a little bit into adulthood, but mainly he simply wished that he could have failed and joined him. If anything, it was the fact that they had been with each other briefly before their paths diverged. He still thought fondly of the furtive secrecy they carried themselves with at the academy, the secrecy that accompanies hormonal teenagers in proximity to other hormonal teenagers, of the mixing of many different genders that lead to rendezvous' they shouldn't have been having.

 

Dom was easy, he was familiarity in a way that no one else at Pai Zhua was. When the rangers came to him, he realized how much he had missed the academy with all its uptight rules, but when Dom came back he realized that a part of him had just come back that he hadn't realized was missing. _RJ, this is Dom. Fran thinks I should write one of these postcards to you, which is ridiculous because I wrote the last one with her (the pep talk was all me!) but this is from me, Dom. We're in Germany now, I think. I'm writing this on the train from Switzerland to Germany and I just have to tell you - they were not joking about the Swiss making delicious chocolate. I don't think I've ever had anything like this. We have eaten_ **_a lot_ ** _in Europe but it's really because Fran makes us walk around everywhere to see museums and the like. I take her to the hostels and the really good concerts and just living in the now. You know how we used to live in the now at the Academy, running after we'd finished our exercise to go cliff diving. We think you should live in the now_ **_now_ ** _and come see us. We'll stay in Germany a lot longer so we can do the rest of Europe together, but you gotta say when. Yours, Dom and Fran_

 

He'd gone to check on the front of the store when he heard Lily come down first, the earlier morning wake-up strictly because they had a big party coming in and had to prepare. He's holding the postcard in his hand as he directs Lily towards the  plan for the day, who smirks at it and he places it in his back-pocket carefully so it doesn't bend. It's the laughter of Theo, Casey and Lily that reminds him that everything is okay, the world's saved, he can leave if he wants to. He needs to find the center, and the center is when he has Dom and Fran with him. He makes all the plans he needs to in his head, leaving out Jungle Karma because he knows it's in good hands.

 

* * *

 

 

(1)

 

There’s a nearby mall in Ocean Bluff that specializes in kitschy designs of the city that have power rangers on them and other postcards and things given that Ocean Bluff gets its fair share of strangers visiting. He moves towards the postcard before he settles on the section with wildlife, specifically one of the wolves with a wolf pack. He grabs it and pays for it, thinking of what to write on the card on the walk back.

 

He could theoretically go now, there was nothing that was stopping him. He trusted Lily, Casey and Theo with his life and by extension Jungle Karma that he knows the place would still be standing when he returned. All he needs is the push, and he knows that others know of his plans to catch up with their traveling friends. He knows there’s only one thing left to do.

 

_I think I’m going to see the rest of the world with you guys, hang tight._

 

He mails the postcard expressly, leaving it at the mailbox of Jungle Karma. Swinging his backpack across his back, he walks out and prepares to go meet the others thousands of miles away from here.


End file.
